What are everyone's feelings on Super 16mm? Which are the best cameras to buy/ rent?

If you want to go cheap you can just mod a bolex, k3, or most other cheap 16mm cameras to shoot super 16.

It's a great format, but obtaining a camera that is reliable, quiet, and shoots S16 with a reasonably wide lens is a fairly tall order on a low budget. Modifying a Bolex is not that expensive, especially if you do it yourself, but it's not quiet and wide coverage is tricky. Same for a K3.

If you're referring to purpose-made S16 cameras (sounds like it from your mention of renting), this is a good option if your budget, production schedule, and location can accommodate it.

Hey guys, thanks a lot. I was thinking more along the lines of renting. I've worked with MiniDV so long I wanted to try a different medium.

I checked out a lot of your footage, Evan. And just from seeing the little I saw it's getting me excited to shoot on 16mm.

The most common S16mm Cameras around for rental are the Arri SR series (Which come in both 16 and s16 varieties) and the Aaton XtrPROD and A-Minima. Which is best for you will probablly depend on the conditions of your shoot. The A-Minima is about the size of a prosumer video camera but it requires special 200' loads that only Kodak offers (Although you could hand wind some fuji on one if you wanted to spend the time).

Both Arri and Aaton have new s16 models out (The 4-16 and the Xtera respectively). Panavision has a s16 mm version of the Panaflex that can occassionally be rented cheap.

If you're looking to buy you can sometimes find a modified Eclair ACL (The precursor to the Aaton) at great prices. Bolexes and the like are loud

Coverage on wider lenses is more a function of the lens than the camera. Sets of lenses are typically more expensive than cameras.

Nota "Variable Prime" Mono

i have used a super 16 bolex, and it works great if you don't need sync sound (it's noisy as hell, and has a wild motor) i have to agree with NotaMono, the Eclair ACL is a fantastic camera. i have only used a regular 16mm version, but it is great. my $0.02

Some friends of mine bought a quiet, crystal synch motor for the bolex. They someone found the guy who invented the thing, and got one from him for $300.

A Bolex will never be quiet, even with a crystal sync motor. Don't mistake a regulated speed for being quiet

Quieter.

I'm not even sure about that. You certainly wouldn't want to use it for dialogue without a very, very thick barney. In my experience motorized MOS cameras are not any quieter than spring-powered. My point was simply that "quiet" in the production sense is not always a concomitant of "crystal sync." In 'modern' (post-1975) cameras, if they are crystal sync from the factory they are likely designed for sync sound and therefore relatively quiet. Retrofitted cameras like the Bolex and K-3 and Scoopic have no such connection.

If someone's talking about an Aaton or 1980s+ Arri and they say it is crystal sync, this almost always implies that it's a quiet camera, but crystal sync motors themselves reduce the noise very little, if at all, on a camera not designed from the start as a quiet model.

I'll have to get the specifics from them, but they just did an eight-minute short on it, with dialogue.